1997 Nissan Sentra GXE

Summary:

A Great Car For A Great Price!

Faults:

So far the only problem I had was part of the heat shield had rusted and needed to be cut off.

General Comments:

This is the fifth car I've owned and it's also the best one. I feel very safe driving it as it's been very dependable in all kinds of weather plus I feel it is well made. I recently backed into a couple of cement poles that were too low to see and all that happened to my bumper was a few minor scratches. My previous car (Ford Escort) would have been badly dented under the same circumstances.

This car has good pick-up (on highways it's almost impossible to keep yourself from driving under 70 miles an hr.) and gets excellent gas mileage.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 28th November, 2003

6th Oct 2004, 23:44

This car has good pick up? I cannot even force my sentra to accelerate fast enough to spill my coffee; forget 70 on the highway if you have to go up a ramp to get on it.

19th Feb 2009, 20:24

My Sentra has no problem running 70 mph, the maximum speed I had drive with it is 85 mph, by accident, and no problems at all.

1997 Nissan Sentra GXE 1.6

Summary:

Better than a Chevy Cavalier, but that isn't saying much.

Faults:

Things that have gone wrong:

The biggest problem that I have had has been the alignment of the vehicle. I have had it re-aligned at least twice a year since I bought the car. At first I thought is was the mechanic, but I have used multiple mechanics and nothing has changed. It just will not stay aligned properly.

This kind of leads to the next problem, tires. Since I can't keep it aligned it wears out the tires very fast. With only 60k miles I had to put the second new set of four tires on the car.

Most recently the idler pulley just fell off the vehicle. I don't know how something just falls off the vehicle, but I guess that wasn't covered under the extended warranty. I am sure I will have to purchase a new battery very shortly because, since the pulley is connected to the alternator.

Other miscellaneous parts have gone bad, but nothing else major. Also, the brakes did seem to wear rather fast.

General Comments:

The one good thing is the overall interior and exterior has held up very good. The interior basically still looks like new.

The exterior has also held up pretty well. I am starting to get some rust finally around the door, but that isn't too bad considering the age of the car. Of course the appearance of the car is partly because of the owners care of the vehicle.

One other complaint has been the quality of the Nissan dealerships in the area. Service has been horrible, and they are less than accomodating if there is a problem with the car. At 60k miles I took it in for the regular maintenance. Since it was already there, I had them change the oil. When I finally checked the oil about a month after the service (my wife drives it regularly), I noticed that they had put 1 quart to much oil in the vehicle. That is simply unacceptable.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 5th March, 2003

11th Oct 2003, 09:01

Sounds like you're not taking proper care of this car. This is the first Sentra I've ever heard of with the problem of staying out of alignment.

6th Oct 2004, 23:55

Make that the first, but not the last. My wife's sentra has had tire and alignment problems for at least 3 years now, and at least half a dozen mechanics have "fixed" the problems. What should I expect though, from tiny tires that try to support a top-heavy car that refuses to comfortably negotiate the slightest curves at posted speed limits?

29th Dec 2008, 23:18

I have had a Nissan Sentra 97 GXE for 3 years now..

The only bad thing... it could be faster.. very slow to speed up..

The car has very bad alignment issues.. LOL I am sure it has something to do with the engineering... I've had to replace my tires once..

My front light on the right likes to go on and off.. LOL it's been replaced/grounded/ etc. LOL

I think it's another flaw! But shoot! I haven't had to replace the transmission.. and that's a +! I am sure it's ready to go though!!

Well overall the car gets bomb gas mileage and isn't too bad.. very reliable.. just stuff goes wrong!

I wouldn't recommend to buy one though.. unless you like super slow cars!

9th Mar 2009, 16:44

The Nissan Sentra GXE 1997 has been the best car I have owned. For a college student this was the most economical car I could have purchased. With regular maintenance the Sentra has not given me much problem. I agreed with the comment that the car does not have great pick up speed, but overall the vehicle has worked great. I wish more car companies would design a more dependable vehicles.